New Westminster is aiming for a "quick win” by seeking to have East Eighth Avenue and East Columbia Street removed from the region’s truck route network.
The city hired Halcrow/CH2M Hill to conduct a review of the truck routes in the city, focusing on East Eighth Avenue, East Columbia Street, Royal Avenue, Front Street and 10th Avenue. In response to the consultant’s findings, council has directed staff to:
* Submit the consultant’s report to TransLink in support of requesting that East Eighth Avenue and East Columbia Street (north of Brunette Avenue) be removed from the truck route network.
* Notify TransLink of the city’s objective to restrict truck traffic along Front Street and Royal Avenue corridors, and begin dialogue with stakeholders to identify the necessary parameters to achieve this goal.
* Request TransLink and Port Metro Vancouver to develop strategies to achieve improved efficiency of goods movement in the region, with the goal of minimizing truck trips through urban neighbourhoods.
* Incorporate the review’s results into a goods movement plan as part of the city’s master transportation plan, a process that’s currently underway.
* Provide an update to council on the current diversionary impacts on New Westminster streets from the recent tolling on the Port Mann Bridge.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said there’s no doubt the tolls on the Port Mann Bridge have had a “great impact” on traffic volumes in New Westminster. While the city supports the need to move goods, he said it also needs to address issues of health and safety of citizens.
Coun. Lorrie Williams noted that 51 per cent of residents recently surveyed named transportation as their top concern.
“This is the elephant in the room,” she said. “It is the tolls on the Port Mann that are pushing people onto the Pattullo Bridge, and the trucks.”
Coun. Betty McIntosh said she’d like to see trucks removed from Braid Street as it’s a residential area on either side of the street.
Basse Clement, an associate transportation planner at Halcrow, said 30 per cent of the trucks in New Westminster are light trucks such as cube vans, 20 per cent are trucks carrying goods as part of the Asia Pacific routes, 35 per cent have a regional focus, 10 per cent are inter-regional and five per cent are destined for the Cascades routes to the United States.
Council members expressed concern that the analysis was based on statistics of truck levels in 2008, noting the number of trucks has increased dramatically since that time.
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